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From: rro@debussy.CS.ColoState.EDU (Rod Oldehoeft)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: introductory language
Message-ID: <5836@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>
Date: 9 Apr 90 17:32:49 GMT
References: <7300008@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <5978@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> <4147@ethz.UUCP> <1990Apr9.114303.501@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>
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Reply-To: rro@debussy.UUCP (Rod Oldehoeft)
Organization: Colorado State University
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In article <1990Apr9.114303.501@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> dooley@physics.utoronto.ca (Kevin Dooley) writes:
>In article <4147@ethz.UUCP> mrys@bernina.ethz.ch.UUCP (Michael Rys) writes:

>>In article <7300008@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> cs290ac@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu writes:

>>>I'm looking for opinions on what languages people think should
>>>be taught as introduction to programming for both CS majors and
>>>non-CS majors.   [Deleted]

>>DON'T go with C if you want to teach CS. [Deleted]

>I disagree.  [Deleted]

In the 18 years I've been in the CS "ed biz" this question has been
nearly constantly batted around, and will always continue to be.  The
reason has to do with the schizophrenic nature of the introductory CS
course, which is in turn caused by the variety of clientele serviced.
At a mortal state-assisted university, all of these people are to be
found in CS 1:

1.  The CS major who has some programming background, and who will succeed
as a CS major.  Here is an opportunity to get on with CS, so maybe a
functional/object oriented/fill in your own approach is best.

2.  The CS major who has no background, and who will succeed.
Probably ditto, but don't forget that the student needs to learn
other language tools as well.  Further, the lack of background
dictates choosing an "easy" language.

3.  The CS major who will not succeed at CS, or will opt out for other
reasons.  Most of us think a useful experience should result anyway,
so a widely available programming language should be taught.

4.  The non-CS major who will, as a result of this experience, become
a CS major.  Once again, let's take the opportunity to get beyond
programming to CS for this person's sake.

5.  The non-CS major who will not become a CS major.  Case 3 applies.

Note that the correct thing to do depends on what will happen to the
student _in the future_, a difficult thing to predict.  All 5
categorites have nontrivial populations.  Some schools have CS 1 for
current majors, and another section for current non-majors.  To the
extent a student is in the wrong section because the future is not yet
known, educational efficiency will be sacrificed.

No easy answer.



Rod Oldehoeft                    Email: rro@CS.ColoState.EDU
Computer Science Department      Voice: 303/491-5792
Colorado State University        Fax:   303/491-2293
Fort Collins, CO  80523